Against the background that advancements in preschool support children’s later success in school, the presentation focuses on the importance of different aspects of preschool quality for preschoolers’ performance on tasks that are known to measure specific predictors for future success in school. The research is part of a more comprehensive German longitudinal project studying educational processes, competence development and selection decisions in preschool and primary school age children (BiKS, Bildungsprozesse, Kompetenzentwicklung und Selektionsentscheidungen im Vor- und Grundschulalter). In our presentation a subgroup of 126 children of the BiKS-3-8 study is selected to explore the interrelation between more general compared to more specific measures of preschool quality and skill acquisition. Account is given to measurement point 3 when children are between 4;6 and 5;2 years of age.

Introduction & Research Question

It is widely accepted that advancement in preschool supports children’s future success in school, especially in disadvantaged children. Therefore the quality of preschool institutions and learning environment is supposed to play an important role in the development and educational carrier of children. For example it is known that phonological awareness in preschool age is not only predictive for literacy in school but that it is also trainable at this age.

The question is whether preschool quality in general is helpful for later school success or rather specific aspects of preschool quality prove to be beneficial. Thus, we analyse whether either global measures or domain-specific indicators of preschool quality or neither of those is conducive for the acquisition of specific skills that are known to be relevant to future success in school. We especially examine the covariation of individual differences in specific skills predictive for later success in school and different measures of preschool quality. Global measures of preschool quality and rather specific indicators of preschool quality are systematically differentiated and analysed with respect to their interrelations with (a) specific predictors (skills) of school success and (b) more global competence measures. Additionally, we go even more in detail by exploring if there is a highly domain-specific interrelation between specific predictors/skills on the one hand and domain-specific environmental stimulation on the other hand, i.e. between early numeracy skills and domain-specific stimulation of mathematics in preschool, as well as between early literacy skills and domain-specific stimulation of early literacy. Further on, we will analyse how these relationships are moderated by background variables.

Sample & Method

The reported data are part of a larger German longitudinal study into educational processes, competence development and selection decisions in preschool and primary school age children (BiKS, Bildungsprozesse, Kompetenzentwicklung und Selektionsentscheidungen im Vor- und Grundschulalter). In BiKS, two longitudinal studies with semiannual measurement points are conducted. In this presentation we focus on the BiKS-3-8 study where 547 children are followed from the beginning of preschool (age around 3 years) until the end of second grade in elementary school.

To analyze the described research question a subgroup of 126 children was selected. Account is given to measurement point 3 when children were between 4;6 and 5;2 years of age.

Apart from measures for more global cognitive and verbal development these children received three tasks measuring specific indicators for later success in school. These tasks assess children’s phonological awareness, knowledge of letters, and early numeracy skills.

• Phonological awareness is assessed with BISC subtest ‘Reimen’ (rhymes) measuring the ability to judge if two words sound similar.


• Knowledge of letters is assessed by showing the children all 26 letters of the alphabet successively and recording if they can name each letter correctly.


• Early numeracy skills are measured with subtest ‘Rechnen’ (numbers) of the German version of K-ABC, where children have to count, name shapes or have to do easy arithmetic.

Other more global indicators of cognitive and language development include competence parameters that systematically differentiate between non-verbal reasoning abilities, verbal skills (including grammar and vocabulary), memory (verbal and non-verbal) and the availability of specific content knowledge. Where possible we used subtests of standardized instruments like K-ABC, SON-R 2½-7 or SETK 3-5. Children were tested individually on three sessions each lasting about 30 minutes. The tests were conducted by a female investigator in a quiet room in kindergarten.

To assess preschool quality the German version of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R, Harms, Cryer & Clifford, 2005; Tietze, Schuster, Grenner & Rossbach, 2005) was used. In addition, the German version of the extension ECERS-E (Sylva, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggart, 2003; Tietze, Schlecht & Wellner, in press) was applied evaluating domain-specific stimulation concerning literacy, mathematics, science, and contact with diversity. 

To account for possibly confounding variables we controlled for several background attributes like socio-economic status and other aspects of family background.

Results & Discussion

With data-collection still in progress, the analyses and results cannot yet be presented in detail within this abstract. It is assumed that domain-specific preschool quality is important for the child’s performance on tasks measuring specific school relevant skills, whereas global preschool quality is supposed to play a secondary role for these specific indicators. However, more global measures of institutional quality might be a better predictor for the development of more general competencies like broader cognitive and verbal abilities.

Future analyses will have to explore whether there are longitudinal effects of specific preschool advancements for actual school success. In addition, the respective role of more global and more specific aspects of preschool quality in educational processes has to be discussed.